The present invention is related to batteries, and in particular to battery charge topologies.
Battery chemistry plays an important role in how batteries are charged. For example, nickel-hydrogen (Ni—H2) batteries are somewhat tolerant of overcharging. In contrast, lithium-ion batteries are not, and must therefore be accompanied by a charging unit capable of controlling the charge on the battery cells to specified values.
This is problematic in legacy systems when batteries are replaced with batteries of a different chemistry. For example, when replacing Ni—H2 batteries with lithium-ion batteries, a constant current charging apparatus commonly employed to charge the Ni—H2 batteries would likely result in damage to the lithium-ion batteries. One solution is to replace the entire battery system, but this is costly and therefore impractical in many applications.